Descendants of Holocaust survivors of Roma and Sinti origin from the Czech Republic attended commemorative ceremony at Auschwitz

Annually on this occasion a commemorative ceremony is held at the site of this suffering, section BIIe of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is a memorial today. The ceremony is organized together with the memorial by the Roma People Association in Poland and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.

The heads of those organizations, Roman Kwiatkowski and Romani Rose, respectively, opened the ceremony, which featured Polish state representatives. Kwiatkowksi’s speech, among other matters, reminded those present of the purpose of young people, represented by the Dikh He Na Bister organization, attending the event.

Vice-President of the European Parliament Nicola Beer of Germany gave the welcoming speech to those attending the ceremony this year. “The European Parliament has to increase its efforts with regard to combating racism and negative stereotypes while at the same time raising awareness about the unique history and culture of the Roma and Sinti. I welcome the EU Strategic Framework for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation, which sets the clear aim for the Member States of combating antigypsyism and discrimination in all areas of life. It is our moral, social and political responsibility to preserve the memories of Holocaust victims and those of survivors,” Beer said.

Survivors were represented at the ceremony by Gerda Pohl, a Sinti woman who married a returnee from Auschwitz-Birkenau. She conveyed her personal memories not just of the fate of her husband during the war, who survived being experimented on by Josef Mengele, but also of her parents, who were rescued thanks to the aid of a friend, and she did not forget to mention the discrimination they experienced in the postwar times as well.

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Descendants of Holocaust victims of Roma and Sinti origin from the Czech Republic regularly attend these commemorative gatherings, the families of Emil Absolon, Robert Berousek and Rudolf Murka, whose parents and relatives were imprisoned in Auschwitz, many of whom perished there. A third-generation representative of the survivors, Jana Kokyová, the niece of the late Mr. Čeněk Růžička, attended the ceremony for the first time to commemorate, along with other descendants of indigenous Czech Roma and Sinti, the 80th anniversary of the mass transports of Roma to Auschwitz.

The event was also attended by Jana Horváthová, director of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, Czech Republic, her co-workers, and representatives of the Czech Embassy in Poland. Unfortunately, nobody from the Czech Government personally attended this significant event during which this dark period of European history is commemorated.

“They didn’t even send a wreath. What am I to believe about the attitude of our political representatives toward the Roman minority?” asked Kokyová, who now chairs the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic.

The descendants of Holocaust survivors of Roma and Sinti origin gathered in Auschwitz on 1 August for a closed, intimate gathering at what remains of the gas chambers and then dined together at the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer, where they recalled their families’ pasts and discussed their current prospects. They also discussed the Centre for the Roma and Sinti in Prague, the new branch of the Museum of Romani Culture in the Czech capital which is being created to meet the wishes of the descendants.

“The Centre will commemorate the suffering of the Roma and Sinti from the Czech lands who were targeted for annihilation during the war. However, it will also be a place to commemorate our ‘vanished’ culture, whether that be through community meetings, educational programs or cultural ones. I believe institutions like the Centre will aid us with making sure our history will never be forgotten,” Murka said of the specialized workplace, which is planned to open in the autumn of 2024.

Of a total number of approximately 6,500 Roma and Sinti people who were living on the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939-1945), less than 10 % survived the Second World War. After the liberation, just approximately 600 Romani children, men and women who were indigenous Czech Roma returned from the Nazi concentration camps and the other internment or labor facilities where they had been imprisoned.

The annihilation of the Roma in Bohemia and Moravia was, therefore, likely one of the most thoroughly executed genocides of the Second World War. The overall number of Romani victims of Nazism in Europe is currently estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000.